INFOGRAPHICS #39: The major surface combatants of the most powerful European Navies in 2035

In this short article, similar to a complete analysis I did in the past on The major surface combatants of the most powerful European Navies in 2030,
I illustrate the six most powerful surface combatant fleets in Europe
by 2035 in a single graph, based on the shipbuilding programs that have announced and only. Russian Navy, as a naval superpower, is excluded from the graph. This time, the new graph, does not include only those countries that are
located wholly or predominantly in Europe but also countries that exist partially within geographical Europe. Thus
Turkish Navy is included as well. In this post, I will mention briefly
some additions and changes regarding the previous article but I will not analyze more
the developments and the designs, because I believe the beforementioned
article covered the topic to a large extent.

The Hellenic Navy today maintains a significant amount of frigates. Though, it is highly unlikely that Greece willhave a similar number by 2035.

The Dutch have and will have a very advanced but small fleet of frigates

The
major surface combatants include the largest surface
combatants and only, cruisers (only few in the world and certainly not
the navies included in this graph), destroyers and frigates. In the new
graph, I have excluded the corvettes that serve in the European navies
because they are warships with only point-defence systems. Furthermore,
other countries have missile boats almost equivalent to corvettes, other
navies have downgraded their corvettes to
offshore patrol vessels or others' the corvettes' equipment is limited
(sensors and/or
armament), therefore are suitable only for low-intensity conflicts.
Traditional naval forces such as the Hellenic
Navy or the Royal Netherlands Navy are excluded from the graph. The
former has in its inventory 13 old frigates but
without any declared replacement plan for the future. The latter has a
rather naval surface force (quite capable though) in comparison with the
six navies in the graph, which includes four very modern anti-aircraft
warfare frigates (equipped with 40-cell VLS each) and two general
purpose frigates that will be replaced by a new type of frigate.
Therefore, this short article focuses only on the front line surface
combatants of the most powerful navies in the region and those Navies
that have announced a shipbuilding program.

Turkey has in its fleet today 16 frigates and 8 corvettes. By 2035, the majority of those vessels will have been replaced by more advanced designs.

The Italian PPA design

One of the Type 31E concepts

I should point
out also, that the naval fleets are depicted in the following image
according to the latest official statements regarding the future of the
included in this article navies. Those ship classes that have not
entered service yet, they are illustrated based on the latest official
artist's impressions. Ships that will have either
reached 35-years of active service by 2035, which is normally the life
limit in a modern day's navy, or they will have been replaced much earlier by a
new class, have been excluded from the future fleets.
I assume that all new classes, such as Type 26, Type 31 ,FTI, PPA, MKS 180 etc. will all be in active service by
2035. Turkey is currently building the second MILGEM block, the Istanbul
class, which will consist of at least four vessels. The final class of
the MILGEM project, it will be the MILGEM Block III, a
design that has yet to be defined, if it will be an advanced derivative
of the Istanbul class or just more Istanbul class frigates. In the graph
I assume the first. The Barbaros class frigates, if there will not be a
replacement programme until then, they will remain in service and they
will have reached the age of 35-37 years. Turkey also plans to build at
least four Anti-Aircraft Warfare (AAW) frigates by 2033 under the
designation
name TF-2000. Regarding the Italian PPAs, the five of them will be of
frigate configuration while the rest will be fitted for but not with
missile systems. It is not clear yet about the AAW frigate variants for
Italy and France, if they will differ in their external appearance. For
more information about the other navies, you can read the
article The major surface combatants of the most powerful European Navies in 2030.

The major surface combatants of the most powerful European Navies in 2035. High resolution image here.

4 comments:

-we will only build 4 I class frigate which will definitely replace 4 yavuz class frigate-there are no milgem block III, i think you confused that with the tf4500 class frigate design which dzkk has no plan to procure anytime soon

I really can't believe that Turkey will have in its fleet 55 years old ships (Gabya class) by 2035 or that it will retire the Barbaros frigates (which were commissioned in the late '90s) and will keep Gabyas instead (with SM-1 missiles and an 8-cell VLS for ESSM). Either a new Block will be built, either more Istanbuls or a new completely design. Turkey will have definitely 16 frigates, no less.

Well bro, the upgraded G class has heavier & more modern weaponary, electronics, and combat management system than the barbaros class. And as far as i know, 4 i class + 4 tf 2000 fixed, i dont know any source that stated another 4 i class nor tf 2000 wil be built in the future.

Btw bro do you know the future of greek navy in 2030? Why dont they upgrade the eli class frigate with more modern radar & weapons such as the smart-s and VLS system such as mk.41 or mk.48 (already familiar w/ hellenic navy), or are they have plan to replace it? If yes with what? Also, how's the gowind and the fremm deal? I hope the greeks interested with our I class frigate and tf2000 ☺